Girl escapes as lightning strike destroys home

A girl had a lucky escape yesterday when lightning struck her home as storms swept across southern and eastern England.

Helen Richardson, 14, was woken by thunder at about 4.45am and went downstairs to get a drink.

Seconds later lightning struck the television aerial above her bedroom, causing a blaze which led to part of the roof collapsing on to the bed where she had been sleeping.

Sixty-one firefighters tackled the blaze in West Moors, Dorset.

Helen, her parents, Christopher and Alison, and brother, Alex, all escaped.

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Stuart Jeneson, of Dorset Fire and Rescue Service, said: "If there had been somebody in the bedroom when the lightning struck they could easily have been killed.

"The roof collapsed on to the bed as soon as the fire took hold."

Mr Richardson, a chartered engineer, said: "The smoke alarms and the house alarm went off so we all just got out of the house as fast as we could. We didn't hang around.

"When we got outside we could see the roof alight. We feel extremely fortunate. My family got out and that's the important thing."

The band of torrential rain moved north-east from Dorset across Wiltshire, London, the East Midlands and Lincolnshire.

Sussex fire crews received dozens of calls to flooded buildings. A chimney collapsed in Fareham, Hants, after being struck by lightning, and a mini tornado was reported off the coast at Shoreham, Sussex, but it did not reach land.

Billie-Jo Maynard, spokesman for East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service, was forced to call the brigade when her own house in Brighton was flooded with 2ft of water. "My floors are just collapsing," she said. "It's unbelievable."

Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service said that about a dozen houses were flooded in Dayshes Close, Bridgemary, in Gosport, with fire crews giving oxygen to one resident and helping to move a disabled girl.

Fire crews were sent to more than 120 separate calls relating to minor flooding across the south of the county, from Basingstoke to Lymington, after several inches of rain.

Peter Cowmeadow, the control room manager at the fire service, said: "The majority of calls were from the public who were worried about rising water levels and surface water, rather than serious flooding incidents.

"But our officers and some crews in south Hampshire have been very busy travelling to the areas of heaviest rainfall and giving advice to the public."

Minor roads were flooded in Brighton, Lewes, Seaford and Gosport.

Paul Mott, a meteorologist, said that an inch of rain fell in an hour in Waterlooville, near Portsmouth. Nottingham had nearly an inch of rain between 7pm on Thursday and 7am yesterday, while Bournemouth airport had nearly half an inch of rain during the same period.

"It is really heavy and thundery, especially for drivers if they suddenly go into the rain," he said.

"The atmosphere has a bit more energy in it which tends to make the rain heavier and more localised. That's why we had some thunder and lightning.

"It's typical summer rain. Although it's less frequent, it can be heavier when it comes.

"Today will be a much better morning across the country. There will be sunny spells.

"There will be some rain across East Anglia and Kent but elsewhere it will be mainly dry."

He forecast weekend temperatures of around 20C to 21C (68F to 70F) and added: "We will have a brief lull for the weekend but there is a risk of more stormy weather coming in for next week. Wednesday looks like being fairly wet and windy across most of the country."